We caught up with them the day after the tour kicked off in Glasgow – and it was all a far cry from the hedonism that put Matt Willis into rehab in 2005 and 2008.

Having got to bed at a reasonable 1.30am, the lads were up early to Skype home. Matt, 30, is married to TV star Emma with children Isabelle and Ace. Busted’s James Bourne, 30, is dating Gabriela Arciero.

McFly’s Tom Fletcher, 28, is a new dad to baby Buzz with wife Giovanna while Dougie Poynter, 26, (finally) confirms to me he is dating superstar Ellie Goulding.

Harry Judd, 28, married his partner Izzy in 2012, while Danny Jones, also 28, is engaged to Georgia Horsley.

But none of that means they don’t appreciate the female attention they’re currently receiving...

So, with less booze, this tour must have a slightly different atmosphere?

Matt: I don’t drink now, so it’s very different. Last night I got back to the hotel and we had sandwiches and nachos, and a mint tea. I was like, f*** dude, this is NOT the way we used to do things.

Dougie, laughing: Some people have been banned from drinking.

Danny: I still sauce.

Tom: I drink white wine, a bit of Sauvignon Blanc.

Matt: We’re all older and not quite so chaotic as we once were. But it still feels like that vibe, it’s still troublesome.

And you’re all in relationships now…

James: I remember the times with groupies and, to be honest, they’re forgettable memories.

Matt: Played Scrabble…

Harry: We’ve had some good times, but it’s not really on our minds. Internet in hotel rooms is essential now.

Still, the attention must be nice...

Danny: We do still get excited when we see boobs in the audience. I got flashed last night, which is good enough for the first night. It was quite a surprise.

Matt: There was a bra thrown – it was quite a big bra, though. When we were in Busted, the bras were quite small. She’s grown up! They aren’t sports bras or training bras any more.

Danny: What I like is that that means there are loose boobs out there. That’s awesome, isn’t it?

But it must be difficult for you being away from your children?

Tom: I think Buzz is going to come up to Manchester. This is the first two nights I’ve been away from him since he was born.

Matt: My kids will come along for parts of the tour. My daughter is going to come along to our London show.

Giant inflatable breasts hang over the crowd during Year 3000 in a nod to the triple-breasted women in the song – your lyrics are quite cheeky...

Matt: The other day, Emma passed the phone to our daughter and she asked me: ‘Daddy, when you flew over France, what did you do, a wee or a poo?’ Because of the Busted lyric , ‘I messed my pants when we flew over France’ in Air Hostess. I was like, ‘Er... ’

(Photo: PA)

You’re playing a gig in Paris with One Direction. Do they ask for your advice on maintaining longevity?

Matt: They seem to have their s*** sorted out already… They’ve already outlived Busted.

James: I think they could give us some advice on how to do well in the rest of the world. They’re big everywhere. It’s gone full circle, we’re going to Paris to open for them and they’re like whoa, McBusted!

Tom: I think it was Louis [Tomlinson] and Niall [Horan] who told us that the first gig they ever went to was McFly supporting Busted.

Harry: We’ve been Snapchatting Niall. We send abuse and he sends it back.

Will Charlie Simpson be appearing on stage at all?

Matt (with a chuckle): No. There’s no room for Charlie Simpson in this band. No, he’s a nice guy but if he was around, we might have done Busted.

James: We never had an argument with Charlie. He just had his own agenda and it wasn’t the same as ours.

You’d have to rearrange some of your now infamous red carpet formations if he did want to return…

Matt: Yeah, where would he go in the pyramid? But who knows.

(Photo: PA)

Has joining both bands worked – or are there rows?

James: It was like Lego. It just slotted together.

Danny: We’re like a football team. There’s no star player.

Tom: The lines are blurred so much – I was nearly in Busted, me and Matt went to school with each other, Harry and Charlie went to school with each other, we’re all friends. And we wrote different songs for each other. James wrote most of our first album for us.

Matt has appeared in EastEnders and Birds of a Feather, Dougie and Matt both won I’m A Celebrity... Danny appeared on Popstar to Operastar and Harry won Strictly Come Dancing. Are you hoping to do more TV once the tour is over?

Danny: We’ve got two kings and a queen in this band.

Harry: Hey, I’m king of the dancefloor! We have spoken about doing a TV series. But there’s so many things we want to do.

Tom: We want to enjoy this!

James: Busted know how hard it is to sustain success. And we know what it’s like to have it, and then not have it.